{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O132463"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O132463/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM8368/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM8368/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM8368","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O132463/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O132463","accessionNumber":"E.686-1945","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Bathyllus in the Swan Dance","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"Aubrey Beardsley's distinctive black and white drawings for Oscar Wilde's <i>Salomé</i>, published in 1894, brought him an extraordinary notoriety whilst still in his early twenties. His work for the periodical <i>The Yellow Book</i> confirmed his position as the most innovative illustrator of the day, but as a result of the hostile moralistic outcry that followed the arrest and trial of Oscar Wilde in early 1895, John Lane and other publishers panicked and dropped Beardsley. Thereafter, almost the only publisher who would use his drawings was Leonard Smithers. Smithers was a brilliant but shady character who operated on the fringes of the rare book trade, issuing small, clandestine editions of risqué books with the boast: 'I will publish the things the others are afraid to touch'. Smithers encouraged Beardsley's already growing interest in French, Latin and Greek texts of this kind and commissioned drawings to illustrate Aristophanes's famously bawdy satirical play <i>Lysistrata</i> and the <i>Satires</i> of the late Roman poet Juvenal. \r\n\r\nBeardsley made a number of drawings to illustrate Juvenal's <i>Sixth Satire, 'Against Woman'</i>. Two of these represent Bathyllus, a character referred to by the author only in passing. Bathyllus was an effeminate dancer, much admired by decadent Roman audiences for his lewd and suggestive performances. In this first design, Beardsley makes specific reference to the text in which Bathyllus is described as acting the part of Leda, a maiden seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan in Greek myth. In this relatively decorous image the dancer makes an overtly camp gesture of modesty and rejection of the swan's advances.","physicalDescription":"Line block of a naked figure save for a portion of a sash hanging around one leg, dancing with a swan positioned mid-air within semi-circle","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent","id":"A8134"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"}],"techniques":[{"text":"line-block","id":"x34849"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Line block print on paper","categories":[{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BM8368"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"I","shelf":"50","box":"G"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x35383"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1896","earliest":"1896-01-01","latest":"1896-12-31"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1906","earliest":"1906-01-01","latest":"1906-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"AAT53319"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.303-1972","id":"O685617"},"association":"Original"}],"creditLine":"Given by an anonymous donor","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"153","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"135","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"281","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"222","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"lettered: BATHYLLUS","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Illustration for the Sixth Satire of Juvenal, published in <i>An Issue of Five Drawings Illustrative of Juvenal and Lucian</i>, London, Leonard Smithers,1906.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Print by Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898). 'Bathyllus in the Swan Dance', printed 1906.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Brian Reade, <i>Aubrey Beardsley </i>, London 1967, Cat. no. 469 (the original drawing),\r\nMark Samuels Lasner, <i>A Selective Check-list of the published work of Aubrey Beardsley</i>, Boston USA, 1995, no.149,\r\nStephen Calloway, <i>Aubrey Beardsley</i>, London, 1998, pp.176-9."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1945</u>, London: HMSO, 1956."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"nudes","id":"AAT189568"},{"text":"swan","id":"x30241"},{"text":"dancers","id":"AAT25653"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"dancing","id":"x37546"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.686-1945"],"accessionNumberNum":"686","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1945,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2007-02-28","availableToBook":false}}